Day Tripping

I found out about a Japanese Festival for Bon Odori in Raleigh through Facebook events and since I know that one of the kids in my life is in love with Asian culture we perminapped her & one of her sisters to head to Raleigh for the day. It was an amazing trip.


On the way, I saw this sign on I95 North and it was like a sign or omen. I missed taking a picture of the "Be true to yourself" one, but I did nail this one.

When we got to the Festival, we checked out a bunch of the food booths and found a Matcha Tea Ceremony.

James & Mia after the ceremony. Neither one of them particularly cared for the tea or cracker, but they enjoyed the experience.

Mia made a wish on the Wishing Tree

Just a shot of the crowd.


We realized that the majority of the available options were mostly food (and the girls didn't really wanna eat), so we took off for round 2 of fun.

James, Mia & Gabby checking out an exhibit.  

All was not fun & games on the way home however, as James got a ticket. But when we dropped off the girls we got an invite to dinner (aka Valentina's Fiesta) and that was amazing!

 

Bunny's Birthday Beach Blast

Got off work a little late – So I grabbed NightShade and my other things & bogeyed it on outside to jump in the car with my Bunny so we could head to the beach. On the way down we talked about everything & nothing, just spending the time together. Taking our time we still made it in about 2 hours – not a bad trip all the way around. First stop – Wings for a beach towel he got one that has skulls on it – matching his swim trunks.










Then we found a place to park and took a quick walk on the beach (the sun it just too much for me – I work nights so I am NOT NOT NOT used to it) and that is when my most loving Bunny surprises me. He says stay here (on the beach) and comes back in a few minutes with a bunch of stuff – he brought my lounge chair, a big sun umbrella, and a cooler full of water & ice. So he hauls all this stuff down to the beach & sets it up then he went on his walk about. He walked down to one pier then turned around and walked to the other pier.
















After a long walk he came over and curled up with me so we continued to talk. Felt good to be able to communicate again. So after sitting outside for SEVERAL hours – he decided he had enough, so we packed up and started back to towards the magic lamp.

Unfortunately on the way home we got some bad news – his Mi-Mi (dog) broke out of the kennel she was in and took off. To this date we have not been able to find her.

Pirate Voyage

Lucas was very excited to go - he wanted to dress like a pirate, so Theresa brought along his Jake suit. All the pirates at the show thought he was simply adorable. There was a preshow - not much there just some singing & such but a yummy drink to be had.


Four Course Pirate Feast
Voyager Creamy Vegetable Soup
Buccaneer Bread
Half O’ Roasted Cackler (Chicken)
Captain BBQ Pork
Cob O’ Buttery
Pirate Herb-basted Potato
Apple O’ Me Eye Pie


And let me tell you - what ever the cost of this show it was TOTALLY worth it. I've been to Dixie Stampede & Mediveal Times in the past - but this show is amazingly amazing. If you have the time & are looking for an entertaining night with good food, good fun, and wonderful entertainment.

Ripley's Aquarium

So I've got some family in town this week - one of my cousins & her husband came down to visit with my grandpa (he's getting near the end I hate to say). My mom got upset cause they are taking their only vacation this year to come down and visit GP (which is more than most of his grandchildren have done). So she decided that she was gonna treat them to a short daytime trip for some fun - trip to Myrtle Beach got planned & planned quickly. Mom invited me & BF to tag along so we did. Me with great anticipation!!







So given - we go to Ripley's Aquarium - after all it's Lucas' favoritest place on earth. So this was my first trip to the aquarium I must say that I loved it. There's tubes that you walk in so you are actually walking inside the tank & 481, a hands on area (technically a couple - one for horseshoe crabs 486 & one for skates), learning stations, divers feeding fish, & tons of other fun.













There were some stunning plants outside but I could only get a couple of shots.

Lucas wanted to feed the big fish - so we walked around back & got some fish food out of the machine - tossed it down and WOW the fish were almost walking on each other to get to the food.